The Best to You, Part Two

This post continues my look back through the year 2007 and the recordings, artists and writers that/who made the year sparkle with creativity. If there is anything you wish to add, feel free to make comments.

Menorah - Shelley Posen (Well Done Music) - Several years ago, Posen released "Manna", a collection of songs about food and Jewish life that bristled with humor, satire, lots of different styles of music and great singing. Not as erudite as Tom Lehrer or silly as Alan Sherman but much more "haimisheh" ("down-to-earth"), Posen strikes a number of chords that resonate with those of us who spent many a holiday around the dinner table with bunches of relatives (and tons of heavy food.) His new disk also features songs about food and family and some of them are quite funny ("Dim Sum, or One in a Minyan", "Finders, Kippers".) But there is a more serious side to this disk, looking at the loss of parents and family, at assimilation of Jewish culture into modern society and more. Posen has a clean, clear, baritone voice and one feels comfortable in the presence of this music. His musical roots range from acoustic folk to "doo-wop" (got to love "Street Corner Havdala") to hard-rock (the screeching guitar on "Cholent" seem to nod to the 80s.) Thankfully, the heart-felt material never gets sappy while most of the "funny" songs are good for several laughs. Go to www.shelleyposen.com and listen to this fine singer/songwriter. As a sidenote, I'll be running an interview with Shelley Posen on my radio show this Sunday (December 16) at 11 a.m. The program, "N'Shomah", airs on both WMRD-AM 1150 and WLIS-AM 1420 (alas, no streaming audio yet.)

The Treatment - The Michael Musillami Trio with Mark Feldman (Playscape Records) - Musillami, bassist Joe Fonda, and drummer George Schuller join together with violinist Feldman and create a full set of modern "swing." Musillami's clean yet percussive tone mixes well Feldman's full-bodied sound. At first, Feldman seems too "serious" for this project but he really digs into the material, often riding atop the expressive percussion. Fonda and Schuller push, prod, drive, and dance beneath the soloists, never flagging, never boring. To find out more, go to www.michaelmusillami.com.

The Wish - Julie Hardy (World Culture) - Truth be told, this disk did not knock me out on initial listening but then the music began to sink in. The musicians really pay attention to each other, truly understand the emotions of the songs, and bathe Hardy 's expressive alto voice in various colors. The music shimmers, softly boils over (at times), caresses the listener and, after a while, you hear and begin to feel the words of the songs. The band of Matt Clohesy (bass), Randy Ingram (piano), label head Kendrick Scott (drums), Ben Monder (guitar on 4 tracks), Jaleel Shaw (alto saxophone on 3 tracks) and Sam Sadigursky (saxophones, clarinet on 6 tracks) do a great job throughout and that's one of the most impressive aspect of the disk - the other is Hardy's emotional honesty and plaintive voice. To get a taste of her music and learn more about this fine young artist, go to www.juliehardy.com.

Harbison: Piano Trio No. 2 - Amelia Piano Trio (Naxos) - The trio of Reiko Aizawa (piano), Anthea Kreston (violin, viola) and Jason Duckles (cello) commissioned American composer John Harbison (born 1938) to create a piano trio for them and the results make up 4 of the 27 tracks on this wide-ranging recording. The program also includes his first "Trio" (from 1968), excerpts from his opera based on "The Great Gatsby" for solo piano, "10 Micro-Waltzes" for solo piano, "The Violist's Notebooks, Books I & II" for solo viola, "Cello Suite" for solo cello, and "Cucaraccia and Fugue" for 4 violas. One can really hear how Harbison's voice has developed over the years and also how he is not ashamed to cite influences that not "modern" (i.e., Franz Joseph Haydn in the "Trio No. 2.") The Amelias tear into the music with gusto and great passion and the minutes dissolve as the program rises and falls in its dynamic presence. Those of us who live in Middletown area are blessed to have Anthea and jason as neighbors and they contribute much in the way of teaching and the occasional concert at The Russell Library. To learn more about them, go to www.ameliapianotrio.com.

Big Old Life - Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem (Signature Sounds) - After several years of medical issues and several new babies, Rani, Scott Kessel (drumship enterprise), Andrew Kinsey (bass, voice), and Anand Nayak (guitar, mandolin, voice) went into the studio and created this gem of a recording. Blending originals with traditional tunes as well as songs from old masters (Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan) and great new songwriters (Sean Staples, Daisy May Erlewine), "Big Old Life" is not only a comfortable blanket on a cold night but also a program to blast out into the backyard on a hot summer night. One realizes that despite no matter bad life can be, music as sweet and bittersweet as this can actually heal the cuts and soothe the bruises. Like Anthea and Jason above, Rani and Scott have put down roots in the Middletown community. To find out more, go to www.raniarbo.com.

The 3rd and final installment will be up before long. Thanks for your feedback.